


Unexpected friendship

by Ilyasviel



Series: Cullen Appreciation week 2017 [6]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Friendship, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-25 11:35:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12035034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilyasviel/pseuds/Ilyasviel
Summary: Friendship can be found in the more strange places and the more unexpected persons.





	Unexpected friendship

**Author's Note:**

> My participation in the Cullen Appreciation Week Day 5: Don’t say a word, dwarf. - Friends  
> Are Cassandra and Cullen BFFs? Or is the Commander known to enjoy evenings at the tavern with Rylen? You tell us!

Friendship is a strange thing in those dark days they were living. Cullen has found a friend in the last person he will have thought during the first days of the Inquisition. Dorian Pavus. The man is everything he has been taught to despise. He is a mage, a powerful one, with all the time magic and necromancy. He is from Tevinter, and let say it suave, Fereldans didn't like ‘Vints very much. He is a noble, raised as part of an elite who will control the lives of others. He is sassy, a flirty, he is outspoken and an ironic companion, who seems to enjoy the sound of his own voice and had a weak spot for good wine.

Cullen is sitting in his office, the chess board on his desk waiting for the hour to go to their usual spot under the gazebo to play for as long as duty leaves them. Chuckling while thinking about it. He has never imagined, in his more crazy dreams, that he will enjoy, and even seek, the company of a ‘Vint mage. They didn't have a good start to their relationship, but time has proven Cullen wrong in his first impression of Dorian. The man is a charm. He is funny and well versed. Can talk with you about everything, and if he didn't know about it, he is like a sponge, thirsty of knowledge. He will coax from you all the information he can and then lock himself in his little corner of the library, reading about it. He likes to discuss politics, religion, history… Damn, the man even loves military history and had ordered some books from Tevinter for Cullen, and helped him to read the complicated parts.

They had begun sharing a game of chess after Dorian saw him playing alone in his desk one evening when he accompanied Lavellan to visit him. He stayed that night, while his boyfriend paid a visit to the tavern. He was an awful player, and after three resounding victories and a couple of bottles of wine, he just admitted only to have played with slaves in his father’s house, and everything seemed to indicate that they always let him win. But instead of trying to play better, the man cheated. CHEATED. On chess. Cullen was laughing so hard when he won the first time and sought to sound offended when Cullen said him that he has seen him switching pieces from its place. And his answer after that, even made him cry. He will remember it forever. ‘Then let's play regularly then, maybe in a more sunny place. I need to get better on my disguised movements to win you properly.’ Not getting better by practice, not wanting to learn how to read him, or the table. The man wants to get better at cheating! He always smiles remembering that conversation...

After that first game, they used every free moment they can to play or chill together on Cullen's tower. The first games had been fun, but utterly silent on Cullen's part. But the man has begun to get under his skin, and they began to talk about their past, their shared interest, the Inquisition. Almost about everything under the sun. Obviously, they have some taboo topics, but they learned quickly to read the signals and change the conversation when they see the other flinching.

After some months of comfortable fellowship, Cullen knew that their friendship was on a new level when Dorian visited him, red eyed and half drunk, after the visit to Redcliff and his father’s trap. The reports haven't been detailed, but Lavellan has talked with him after the meeting and told him the truth, because he was, in fact, his only friend besides him. They had spent the night drinking on the battlements, and Cullen ended giving him his coat, laughing at him when Dorian's sense of fashion almost explode, but the man was freezing and didn't want to leave their spot under the stars.

After that night, they just ‘be’. A friendship he didn't expect or searched for, but he gives his thanks to the Maker for it, every day.

The sound of the bells announcing the hour is the signal Cullen has been waiting and picking up the chess board from the table, he leaves the tower. Dorian is already waiting for him, sitting on the little table with a leg crossed over the other and reading a book while trying to ignore the glancing daggers that Mother Giselle throws at him. “Sorry. Have you been waiting for long?”

Closing the book, he put it on the table before giving him a big smile. “Not at all, Commander. I was enjoying the peace of the garden and dodging daggers. Is one of my favourite hobbies, as you already know.”

Cullen smiles to him. His witty comments and acidic tone are like armour for him, and he has learned to polish it when necessary. “You are improving at it. Maybe we can let you join our morning training. I’m sure you can teach something to our rogues.”

“Oh, I’m sure I can. In fact, I have a list of the rogues I want to train with, just in case I can choose with whom I will be rolling on the ground.”

Sitting in the chair after putting the chess board on the table, he shakes his head. “You, my friend, are incorrigible.”

Dorian shrugs exaggeratedly, leaning forward to help Cullen to get the board ready. “And you will not want me any other way, Commander.”

Sincerity flows from Cullen’s chest, and for once, he didn’t want to stop it. “Absolutely, Dorian. Absolutely.”


End file.
